Taylor, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Taylor, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Taylor lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Taylor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Taylor — the short answer
Taylor, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 167 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 167 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5a is Taylor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Taylor's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Taylor
Each reading below is measured for Taylor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTaylor runs about 170 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredTaylor sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Taylor is in
Taylor sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Taylor's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Loup County is mostly Nebraska Sand Hills. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Taylor
Every plant below cleared Taylor's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Taylor?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Taylor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Taylor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEBRASKA DEPT OF TRANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- BROWER CONSTRUCTION COBrownfields · 1200 ft
- CORNER STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 21N 18W25CD 1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- RALLS ANGUSCAFO · 4.9 mi
- WHOA & GO #8Underground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- SARGENT MUNICIPAL UTILITIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- FRC MABELUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- 20N 19W34AB 1Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- 19N 18W 8AAAA1Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- QUAIL OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.0 mi
- CALAMUS MARINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
Measured from Taylor's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Taylor.
Total Sites
16
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Taylor
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Taylor average
Your land is one point inside Taylor
Everything above resolves to Taylor as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 167 acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Taylor Average
Taylor Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Taylor
- ●One soil character for all of Taylor
- ●Frost dates read at Taylor's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Taylor's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Taylor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Taylor, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Taylor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Taylor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Taylor average
How we know this about Taylor
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Taylor’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Taylor
When does frost risk typically end in Taylor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Taylor typically lands around Apr 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 17.
When is the first frost in Taylor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Taylor typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Taylor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Taylor sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 29, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Taylor?
The federal record around Taylor is light — 16 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Taylor?
From about Sep 13 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Taylor's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Taylor's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Taylor’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Taylor's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 167 acres it covers and 16 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Taylor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Taylor's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 13 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 16 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Taylor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Taylor's boundary and the 167 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Taylor sits in the Central Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Taylor's 167 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Loup County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Loup County
- The growing challenges every Nebraska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nebraska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Loup County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Taylor's 167 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Taylor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 167 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Taylor-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Growing region
Nearby growing guides